But it doesn’t mean it’s not true. Every visit leaves me with the impossible challenge of describing how much your prayers and support are changing real lives in and beyond Ecuador’s capital city of Quito.
Take these handful of examples from my most recent trip to Quito.
I watched nine couples graduate from the Norte Church’s marriage restoration ministry. All nine couples came into the ministry hurting and separated from their spouses. All nine marriages are now restored. They’ll share the gospel with countless hurting marriages year after year.
Next, the church commissioned a family of four to serve as full-time missionaries in Southeast Asia. That’s your support helping plant a church in Quito who now extends the gospel to the other side of the world.
Next, I made the short drive to the Puembo Church for their Sunday gathering. I looked on as they played host to 35 members of a medical team from the United States. This team joined forces with dental and medical professionals from the Puembo Church. Together they cared for 1,904 underprivileged folks across the city during the annual week-long medical clinic.
In yet another area of Quito, the Cumbayá Church helped lead a financial health outreach ministry that impacted 6,000 Quito police officers last year. This year, they look to do the same with 8,000 police officers in the city of Guayaquil. This summer they will serve as the host site for a related event to be broadcast by satellite from Cumbayá to all Latin America.
This is radiating impact—the kind that extends the gospel to more and more corners of the city—and the world. It’s affecting the lives of civic leaders, urban professionals, single-parent teens, and newborn babies who will now grow up in gospel homes.
It’s the reason we continue to ignite, unite, and equip dynamic churches in the heart of Latin America’s strategic cities.
May the Lord of grace continue to take our loaves and fish and radiate his love more than we could ask or imagine.
Craig Murray
Executive Director
Church Ministries International
